


Here

by SilverFliesInBlueSugar



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Cutting, Gen, Headcanon, One Shot, Self-Harm, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-02
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-07-24 08:46:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16171658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverFliesInBlueSugar/pseuds/SilverFliesInBlueSugar
Summary: He had pulled the boy in for a hug and hated himself for not being there for him.And had held Naruto until he was all out of tears to cry.He would repay back what Minato had done. No matter what. Because Naruto was worth it.





	Here

Kakashi watched his disciples with semi budding-playfulness and semi wariness.

Team 7. The first squad Kakashi had ever truly taken on.

And he was already worried about them.

How fantastic.

Well. He was particularly worried about one of his students.

Sakura and Sasuke were handfuls in their own right, but were muted. Calmer. Sakura had her bouts of neuroticism and fangirling over Sasuke, and Sasuke just brooded. All the time.

Naruto.. Was a basket case.

At first glance he seemed simple. A loudmouth, simpleminded attention hungry brat just like many parented children.

But he wasn't.

The attention begging came from a place of severe emotional neglect and the resultant mindset that hey, any attention is better than none, right? The incompetence is due to self worth issues and a lack of commitment due to barely any positive reinforcement or encouragement.

And Naruto could be muted like the others on his team. He had moment where he just seemed to zone out and stare into the distance, blue eyes becoming oddly glassy as if he were struggling to hold back tears threatening to fall.

And the blonde knuckleheaded ninja wore bandages on his wrists.

Something that wouldn't be so concerning (many ninja wore odd things as personal fashion) if it weren't for the fact that they were always freshly bloodstained.

This also wouldn't have concerned if Naruto had been, say, an elite ninja. Jonin often got injured on missions.

But Naruto was a fresh-from-the-academy child who had seen very little action in his life apart from Zabuza and Haku.

And that was like never learning to swin and then being dropped into the middle of the atlantic.

Kakashi watched Naruto closer.

And noticed.

Naruto would scratch his wrists when agitated. Would run his fingers up and down the insides of his arms when bored. Seemed to instinctively tug his sleeves down.

Kakashi recognised these behaviours.

Of course he did.

He had lived those behaviours.

When Kakashi was 11 and put onto his team with Minato-sensei, the mental scars of his father's suicide still felt fresh in his mind.

So he began to harm himself.

Small things. Pull out a kunai when alone, maybe make a small cut. Maybe it would draw blood, maybe it wouldn't. The marks didn't matter. The pain did.

And then his sleeve had slipped.

Minato had held his arm with a horrified disposition about his face, and resultantly refused to leave his student alone for the preceeding months.

Then Obito died.

Then Rin.

And then Minato sensei perished along with, and suddenly he had no one to stop for.

So he went deeper. And deeper. And deeper.

If it hadn't been for his estranged friends like Asuma, Gai and Kurenai refusing to give up on him and bring him into social situations instead of letting him brood, he might have ended it a long time ago.

And a year before he got this successful team of his, he had stopped harming himself altogether.

And now it seemed the son of the one who had tried to help him was going through what he had.

The irony wasn't lost on him, but it was a cruel irony.

So one day he held Naruto behind after training, and he pulled up his sleeve and unravelled the bandages.

And his student had frozen and went silent as his wrist was exposed, rows apon rows of pink and red lines crossing over and lined up perfectly.

He had pulled the boy in for a hug and hated himself for not being there for him.

And had held Naruto until he was all out of tears to cry.

He would repay back what Minato had done. No matter what. Because Naruto was worth it.


End file.
